Music helps harmonize motivation

Ben Kaplan, Postmedia News01.26.2012

Plenty of serious athletes have become synonymous with their tunes. Michael Phelps listened to Lil Wayne at the Beijing Olympics and Paula Radcliffe (pictured), the women's world-record holder in the marathon, likes to listen to Stronger by Kanye West to get pumped up for a run.

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Dave Scott-Thomas is about as influential a figure in Canadian distance running as the guys organizing your races or making your shoes. As the head coach of the Speed River Track Club at the University of Guelph, Scott-Thomas oversees the training programs for Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis, the two fastest marathon runners in the country.

But that doesn't mean the coach and former competitive racer is beyond ridicule from his friends. A few years ago, he slapped on his iPod and ran across campus. Unwittingly, he unleashed the floodgates of scorn.

"A strength coach saw me and sent an email to our alumni group outing me: 'I saw Dave running with earphones; clearly, he's past his prime and will never compete again,' " Scott-Thomas says. "I had gone to the dark side. Listening to music is just one of those things in the running culture that separates a runner from a jogger. A real runner would never be caught wearing headphones - it's embarrassing."

In 2007, the New York City Marathon banned the use of headphones and faced tremendous pushback from participants. As technology has improved, making portable music players ever smaller and more customizable for a run, a great swath of the running community began plugging in while lacing up their shoes.

There are websites such as Running Music Mix and Jog Tunes dedicated to creating mixes with the right beats-per-minute to match runners' heartbeats and strides. There is also a popular series of half-marathons in London, England, called Run to the Beat, in which the rock, hip hop and dubstep tunes played are as big a selling point as the course.

"Music reduces the perception of effort by some 10 per cent and that's not to be sniffed at," says Costas Karageorghis, a sports psychologist with London's Brunel University School of Sport and Education, and an early organizer of Run to the Beat.

"It's also helpful before strenuous exercise, priming us and creating a mood that predisposes us to want to work out - music that's arousing functions like a stimulant or a legal drug."

Plenty of serious athletes have become synonymous with their tunes. Michael Phelps listened to Lil Wayne at the Beijing Olympics and Paula Radcliffe, the women's world-record holder in the marathon, likes to listen to Stronger by Kanye West to get pumped up for a run.

Karageorghis, who examined the effect of music on runners in a study published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, has found a seven per cent increase in efficiency in runners who can synchronize their steps to a beat. Songs with beats-per-minute around 130, which matches the stride of most runners, include Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5, Jai Ho, the theme song from Slumdog Millionaire, and pretty much everything from the dance band LMFAO.

According to Karageorghis, who is also coauthor of Inside Sport Psychology, a budding runner can increase endurance nine per cent and motivation 15 per cent simply by listening to music while running.

"Our work has shown that music has the propensity to enhance how we feel, even at very high exercise intensity," says Karageorghis, who ran track while studying for his music and sports science master's degree. "If a runner likes to focus inwardly, music can be an unwanted distraction, but for people who have a tendency for disassociation and are looking for external distraction, I'd recommend a combination of visual and musical stimuli."

None of the elite marathon runners listen to music when they're training seriously. It's too important to listen to their coaches and bodies and, more often than not, each day's run involves changing tempos and switching speeds.

Still, if you're having a hard time getting out the door on a cold January morning, there's nothing wrong with throwing on the Rocky theme.

"I still listen to music about once every three months when I don't really want to think and it's a grey, stale day," Scott-Thomas says. "Music is good for the soul."

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Music helps harmonize motivation

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